I started with the expansion of the site. Each distribution will now get its own page with more detailed information, while the main page will simply contain the latest news and the main distribution comparison table. This table will compare the latest official releases. In case of Slackware, this means version 7.1 as can be found it the boxed version shipped in June 2000. For the so called "current" release and previous releases, please go the Slackware page. All distribution hyperlinks now point to their pages on this website, rather than to their respective home pages. Slackware page is the first one up (thanks to all Slackware users who were the most active in contributing the corrections and suggestions) and other pages will follow soon. Have fun!

The Official Release of Slackware Linux by Patrick Volkerding is an advanced Linux operating system, designed with the twin goals of ease of use and stability as top priorities. Including the latest popular software while retaining a sense of tradition, providing simplicity and ease of use alongside flexibility and power, Slackware brings the best of all worlds to the table. Originally developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991, the UNIX-like Linux operating system now benefits from the contributions of millions of users and developers around the world. Slackware Linux provides new and experienced users alike with a fully-featured system, equipped to serve in any capacity from desktop workstation to machine-room server. Web, ftp, and email servers are ready to go out of the box, as are a wide selection of popular desktop environments. A full range of development tools, editors, and current libraries is included for users who wish to develop or compile additional software.

Patrick Volkerding has announced the release of Slackware Linux 14.1, a new version of the world's oldest surviving Linux distribution: "After over a year of development (including the beta release and several release candidates to get everything polished up) we're proud to announce the availability of the new stable release. You'll find updates throughout the system, with the latest compilers and development tools, and recent versions of applications, window managers, desktop environments, and utilities. The Linux kernel is updated to version 3.10.17 (part of the 3.10.x kernel series that will be getting long-term support from the kernel developers). The x86_64 edition of Slackware also adds support for installing and booting on systems running UEFI firmware." The new versions ships with KDE 4.10.5 and Xfce 4.10.1 desktops. Please read the full release announcement and check out the release notes for further information. Download: slackware64-14.1-install-dvd.iso (2,326MB, MD5, torrent).

Patrick Volkerding has announced that the "Current" branch of Slackware Linux has reached release candidate status in preparation for the release of stable version 14.1: "And with this batch of updates and fixes (clearing the rest of the important stuff from the TODO list), we have arrived at Slackware 14.1 release candidate 1! Please test and report any remaining issues. UEFI (with the exception of Secure Boot, which will have to wait until we have real hardware) should be fully implemented in the installer now, which will detect and warn about common problems, set up the EFI System Partition under /boot/efi, and install ELILO and a UEFI boot entry automatically. Several useful netfilter and networking utilities have been added. With this batch of updates, everything should be considered frozen (including the kernel) unless there's a good reason to change something." See the full changelog for all the recent updates and fixes. Interested testers can download Eric Hameleers's unofficial installation DVD image built from Slackware's "Current" tree: slackware64-current-install-dvd.iso (2,018MB, MD5).

Today Patrick Volkerding declared the "Current" branch beta which means that the upcoming stable Slackware Linux 14.1 is in the final stages of development. Quoting from the changelog: "Hey folks, I'm calling this a beta! Really, it's been better than beta quality for a while. There will probably still be a few more updates here and there (and certainly updates to the docs). Enjoy, and please test." Other important changes include update to Linux kernel 3.10.12, the introduction of GRUB into the main tree ("Welcome GRUB!"), and updates to the just-release Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird 24.0 (the extended support releases). This will be the first stable version of Slackware Linux in over a year. As always, there are no official installation DVD images during this development period, but interested testers can download the latest unofficial build of the "Current" tree provided by Slackware developer Eric Hameleers: slackware64-current-install-dvd.iso (2,331MB, MD5). Pre-orders are also available.

After more than two months of testing, Patrick Volkerding has finally announced the release of Slackware Linux 14.0: "The long wait is finally over and a new stable release of Slackware has arrived! Since our last stable release, a lot has changed in the Linux and FOSS world. The kernel has moved on to major version 3 (we're using the long-term supported 3.2.29 kernel for this release), X.Org has released X11R7.7, and Firefox has had a whopping 11 major releases to arrive at version 15.0.1! We've brought together the best of these and other modern components and worked our magic on them. You'll find new compilers (including the LLVM/Clang compiler that's becoming a popular alternative to GCC), development tools, libraries, and applications throughout, all prepared with our careful and rigourous testing. If you've used Slackware before, you'll find the system feels like home." Consult the release announcement and release notes for further details. Download: slackware-14.0-install-dvd.iso (2,345MB, MD5, torrent), slackware64-14.0-install-dvd.iso (2,299MB, MD5, torrent).

Slackware Linux 14.0 is getting very close to being released, but Patrick Volkerding has decided to play it safe and offer one more release candidate for testing: "Here we go one more time with Slackware 14.0 release candidate 5. Really, this time it is not a drill! Everything is in place and ready to release at this point, and unless there's some kind of showstopper found, the release can be expected soon. After careful consideration and a considerable amount of internal testing I did relent to give the kernel one more bump to 3.2.29, so of course 3.2.30 was released a couple of hours ago. But that's not a showstopper, and it seems to be time to get off the never-ending kernel upgrade treadmill until the next cycle begins. Speaking of kernels, I added sample .configs for all the 3.x kernel branches in /testing." See the distribution's changelog for a full list of recent changes. If you'd like to give it one last round of testing then download Eric Hameleers' unofficial DVD images from here: slackware-current-install-dvd.iso (2,320MB, MD5), slackware64-current-install-dvd.iso (2,275MB, MD5).

Release candidate four for Slackware Linux 14.0 is out: "Well, we fixed a lot of bugs and took some upgrades that we pretty much needed to take since they were important bug and/or security fixes, so it looks like we'll need to have a 14.0 release candidate 4 and another (last?) round of testing. Hopefully the fourth time is the charm!" One of the critical security patches were applied to glibc: "Patched multiple integer overflows in the strtod, strtof, strtold, and strtod_l functions in stdlib in the GNU C Library allow local users to cause a denial of service (application crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a long string, which triggers a stack-based buffer overflow." See the distribution's changelog for a full list of changes. Download links to the daily unofficial DVD installation images built by Eric Hameleers: slackware-current-install-dvd.iso (2,320MB, MD5), slackware64-current-install-dvd.iso (2,274MB, MD5).

The third (and probably last) release candidate for Slackware Linux 14.0 is ready for testing: "This is Slackware 14.0 release candidate 3 and it is hopefully the last stop on our long road to a stable Slackware release soon. After hearing that the 3.4.x kernel series will have long-term support, I tested 3.4.9 hoping that it would prove stable enough to use that as the release kernel, but there are problems with an oops in clocksource.c every few boots. Given that the 3.2.x series has been very stable, it seems prudent to stick with that for release, and 3.2.28 is going to be the release kernel. So, one more round of testing." See the distribution's changelog for this announcement and notes about recent updates and several security corrections. Download links to the daily unofficial DVD installation images built by Eric Hameleers: slackware-current-install-dvd.iso (2,319MB, MD5), slackware64-current-install-dvd.iso (2,274MB, MD5).

The second release candidate for the upcoming Slackware Linux 14.0 is ready for testing. Patrick Volkerding in today's changelog: "Getting close! Hopefully we've cleared out most of the remaining issues and are nearly ready here. We'll call this release candidate 2. Unless there's a very good rationale, versions are frozen. Any reports of remaining bugs will be gladly taken, though." The changelog entry also includes a bug-fix rebuild of GNU grep, among other updates: "Merged upstream patches to fix problems with sparse or compressed files, and with file systems that store tiny files within the metadata. This should fix issues with compiling on file systems such as Btrfs and ZFS." Recent unofficial installation DVD images can be downloaded from here: slackware-current-14_Aug_2012-DVD.iso (2,329MB, MD5), slackware64-current-14_Aug_2012-DVD.iso (2,284MB, MD5).

In the most recent changelog entry, Patrick Volkerding declares the Slackware "Current" tree, the distribution's development branch, release-candidate quality: "Good hello and happy Thursday! Mercury went direct early yesterday morning and it was like the bugs started to fix themselves. It's almost enough to get me believing in that hocus-pocus nonsense. So, here's a bunch of updates that fix all of the reported issues in the beta and we'll call this the 14.0 release candidate 1. Still some updates needed for the top-level documentation files, but we're clearly in the home stretch now (finally). Test away, and report any remaining bugs!" Today's changelog entry also includes a big update to KDE 4.8.5. Quick links to download recent unofficial installation DVD images: slackware-current-14_Aug_2012-DVD.iso (2,329MB, MD5), slackware64-current-14_Aug_2012-DVD.iso (2,284MB, MD5).